22 Dec 2019: The Gambia - Day 2

Our second day of birding the Jajari area started off with a fine sighting of Bruce’s Green Pigeon just outside the lodge. On our way to the nearby Bao Bolong Wetland Reserve we also ticked a Hooded Vulture, Abyssinian Roller, Vinaceous Dove, Dark Chanting Goshawk and Sand Martin. The highlight undoubtedly was my very first West African Swallow – which most authorities, with the exception of the IOC, treat as a subspecies of the Red-rumped Swallow.

Abyssinian Roller, Jajari, The Gambia

One fifth of The Gambia is covered with wetlands. These wetlands are mostly seasonally wet saltmarshes and sparsely vegetated mudflats, locally known as banto faros. Here we found a bunch of Collared Pratincoles, Spur-winged Lapwings, White Wagtails, Long-tailed (Reed) Cormorants, Senegal Thick-knees, Little Weavers and Chestnut-backed Sparrow Larks.

Senegal Batis, Jajari, The Gambia

In the afternoon we birded an extensive area of seasonal freshwater lakes and marshes created during the rainy season. An Eastern Subalpine Warbler revealed itself by calling from nearby undergrowth. At one of the ponds a Green Sandpiper and a pair of Egyptian Plovers pottered around at the water’s edge while a male Sahel Paradise Whydah displayed its full breeding plumage. The surrounding bush was also teeming with birdlife. In quick succession we found Sahel Bush Sparrow, Black-billed Wood Dove, Shikra, Blue-cheeked Bee-eater, Senegal Batis, Northern Anteater, Chestnut-crowned Sparrow Weaver, Black-rumped Waxbill and Sudan Golden Sparrow.

Blue-cheeked Bee-eater, Jajari, The Gambia

Karanta then took me to his stakeout site for the White-fronted Black Chat. The male of this diminutive and slim chat has a white patch on the forehead whereas the female is entirely black. We searched the area extensively and found Senegal Parrot, Temminck’s Courser, Eurasian Hoopoe, Common Whitethroat and a single Flappet Lark. What I did not find was the bottle of water that I thought I had brought along. The delicious groundnuts growing on a fallow field also did not help to quench my thirst. It certainly looked as if I was going to dip on the target bird.

The landscape consisted of mixed farmland with fringes of bush and scrub. Birding was interspersed with long spells of tedious peering at trees and bushes; cursing the tropical heat and clearing sweat from the optics of my bins. Small flies targeted the moist corners of my eyes and deemed my nostrils and ears safe places to hide from the incessant swatting. It boggles the mind why one would willingly and voluntary subject yourself to this insidious slow torture while one could just as easily enjoy the cool veranda of a hotel and sink a few cold ones. By this time my thirst was overpowering. I was starting to see visions of a cold beer with beady drops of condensation beckoning on the glass. Still the uncommon White-fronted Black Chat remained its elusive self.

White-fronted Black Chat, Jajari, Gambia

Actually, there was no choice. Once you are lured into the insane obsessiveness of twitching, a bird in the bush will always trump a beer in the hand. So, the thirst was pushed into the back of the mind and we proceeded deeper into the interior. The sun still hammered us relentlessly as we crossed a small rise in the veld. And there, in a plot of disused cultivation, a pair of White-fronted Black Chats were picking off insects from perches in a small tree. This was sheer elation! Birding fluctuates between utter frustration and moments of sheer elation. I experienced sheer elation at the thought of a cold beer waiting at the lodge… Nor was I the only one with a pressing thirst – on the way back to the vehicle a covey of Four-banded Sandgrouse flew past to quench their thirst at the nearest waterhole.